While clubs continue to spend big on players who don’t necessarily promise a lot and selling those who would have benefited them, it’s okay to say that this transfer market has so far been a crazy one. It’s almost crazy to explain how a player who isn’t in the class of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or even Bale (the future to be former most expensive player) can be tagged at 90 million pounds, with the offers still rising.
In all of this mess, there is a club however who has been doing their business smartly – Dortmund, over the years have earned a label of being Bayern’s youth academy or scouting ground with so many big name players such as Robert Lewandowski, Mario Gotze and now Mats Hummels being bought by Bayern. The did however make good profits from these big names
Robert Lewandowski was bought at 4.5m and was sold at an undisclosed amount which wouldn’t have been any less than 30m. Similarly Mario Gotze too made the switch to Bayern with a 36m deal and in this year’s transfer market, Mats Hummels moved to Bayern for 38m. The surprising thing has been Dortmund’s ability to replace these players and become even stronger.
However, this season they have not only sold players to generate cash, they have also bought big name players for themselves. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was bagged by Manchester United for a reported fee of 30m. However Dortmund replaced him with one of their own old sons, Mario Gotze who seemingly had a frustrating time at Bayern. BVB bought the world cup winner for 35m. Almost the same price they sold him for. They strengthened their wing by signing the former Chelsea man, Andre Schurrle from Wolfsburg for 18m. For someone who adds so much utility and width to the team, 18m is a very reasonable price.
Dortmund then strengthened their right wing by signing the young and extremely talented Ousmane Dembele from Rennes for only 12m. They needed a holding midfielder alongside the attacking Mario Gotze, so they looked to their arch rivals for one and signed Sebastian Rode for 8m.
The already tight defence required some further re enforcements so Dortmund signed the Portuguese, Raphael Guerriero to add depth to the squad and again only for 9m.
The transfer market can be a crazy place, be too cautious and miser and you can end up like Arsene Wenger, be too greedy and glory hunter and you may aswell end up like Mourinho paying 86m for a prospective talent. Dortmund strike the perfect balance while doing their business.
